Series preview: Athletics at Indians (May 16-18)

The Indians begin a tough homestand with three games against the first place team in the AL West, the Oakland Athletics.

• Friday's game is at 7:05 PM (Sonny Gray vs. Zach McAllister)
• Saturday's game is at 7:05 PM (Scott Kazmir vs. Josh Tomlin)
• Sundays's game is at 1:05 PM (Jesse Chavez vs. Justin Masterson)

The division leading Detroit Tigers follow the A's into town next Monday through Wednesday, before the Tribe head back on the road to visit Baltimore and Chicago.

Division Watch: Tigers at Red Sox, Orioles at Royals, White Sox at Astros, Mariners at Twins.

Team in a Box

Remember that opening series against the Athletics? Yeah, that seems so long ago. We actually took two of three from them in Oakland, but that likely had more to do with Jim Johnson imploding twice than the Indians playing up to their capability. There was a definite dearth of offense in those three games as there was a total of 19 runs scored by both teams in the three games.

The A's have opened a three game lead and are just 1.5 back of the Tigers for the best record in the AL. They just completed a 6-4 homestand where they swept the Nationals and would have swept the White Sox if not for Jose Abreu. They are the best offense in the league and one of the top staffs as well. Their one weak spot is familiar to Tribe fans, their defense, as they are thirteenth in errors and eleventh on fielding percentage.

Projected Roster

*Stats while with Padres

Since opening week, there have only been two roster changes to the hitters. Sam Fuld was let go when Gentry was activated from the DL. And just this week, they traded for Blanks after the Padres designated him for assignment. In order to do that, they finally cut bait on Daric Barton.

Norris and Jaso are having All-Star starts to their season as a catching platoon. Moss, Donaldson and Cespedes give them a very lethal hitting attack. The one black hole in the lineup is Sogard. Punto still somehow has a job.

Projected Staff

This rotation has been superb this season with the exception of Dan Straily who sent down to AAA. LGFT Pomeranz has assumed that spot and been lights in in both of his starts. We will miss both him and Milone, leaving us with just one lefty, our old friend Kazmir, who pitched 7.1 innings of shutout ball in that opening series, getting his first win of the year. We will face both righties, Gray and Chavez, but neither is shoddy. Gray tossed six shutout innings in the season opener while we missed Chavez due to the rainout.

Johnson was demoted from closer shortly after our series, but resumed those duties a few weeks back. He had one rough outing in Seattle and allowed a run in each of his last two appearances, so he may be vulnerable again. The rest of the bullpen has been lights out. Rodriguez and Savery are the two new faces, with one taking over for Evan Scribner and the other taking Pomeranz' spot when he moved to the rotation.

On the Shelf

• SP Jarrod Parker [60 day DL], out for season
• SP AJ Griffin [60 day DL] , out for season
• RP Ryan Cook [15 day DL], no timetable for return
• RP Eric O'Flaherty [60 day DL] , possibly mid-June
• SS Jake Elmore [15 day DL], on AAA rehab
• CF Coco Crisp [day-to-day], neck strain, expected to return for this series

Almanac